Update as of November 1, 2004 - After
a great personal search effort and sacrifice - and several strange emails
and allegations - I now firmly believe someone connected to the Mario world
either has the car - or knows exactly where it is and has been all this
time. 11-1-04

This is quite the quest. A number of
years ago, my brother Rip received a very nice letter from an LA woman
after one of his feature stories on Mario appeared in the LA Times. Rip
sent that letter and others on to Bob and Damon to share with them.

The interesting thing about the letter
in question was that the woman said she owned Mario's 1950 Cadillac and
had kept it in good repair.

The woman eventually passed on, leaving
the car to her son...who contacted Bob about selling it several years ago.
At one point, Bob actually went to the man's home and saw the car, now
painted a powder blue, in the garage.

Not long after, apparently, the man reportedly
moved to somewhere in the midwest, taking the old car with him.

He next contacted the Mario Lanza Museum
in Philadelphia and talked to museum director Mary Papola about the car...still
wanting to sell it. The museum was not in the position of such an expensive
undertaking and all that came of it, as far as I know, was that Mary informed
Bob of the man's contact, etc.

I have been trying to track this car
down for years. Bob has kindly spent a great deal of effort trying to locate
the man's information in his records but has run out of places to look.
I've asked Mary and she thought she might have his data in some of her
notes...which were possibly boxed up when the museum moved to its new location
in current location. She promised to search for it but apparently has had
no luck.

I am pleased to state that Bob has agreed
to oversee a proper restoration of the car if it can be found and if the
man's asking price is reasonable.

Mario had at least two Cadillacs. This
particular one is the 1950 model. I am offering a $3000 reward for information
which not only locates the man and the car but leads to a successful purchase
of it. Please email me at
sightings@mindspring.com with
any information. This car needs to be saved and restored. - Jeff